VIRDEN — On a day when the top seed won three straight games to get right back into contention at the Viterra Championship, a couple of lesser-known teams threw their names into the conversation as well.

The Reid Carruthers team, with Mike McEwen skipping, had to play on three straight draws Friday after they lost a game and fell to the B-side of the provincial men’s curling championship on Thursday.

The defending champions looked very much themselves in beating Ty Dilello 10-0 and Terry McNamee 6-3 to qualify for the playoff round, then beat Tanner Lott of Winnipeg Beach 9-7 in the first game of the second double-knockout round.

“Better day today,” Carruthers understated.

“It was a kick in the butt Thursday and going into (Friday) we took a bit of a different approach to the game and it worked out for us. It was a good wakeup call.”

Carruthers, who represents West St. Paul, will face eighth-seeded Corey Chambers of Lorette Saturday morning with a chance to clinch a spot in the championship round on the line.

Chambers has been one of the bigger surprises of the championship so far. Chambers, who is skipping for the first time at the provincial men’s level, rolled into the playoffs with three straight wins, then beat Steen Sigurdson of Gimli 6-2 in the first playoff game Friday night to move within a win of the championship round.

Chambers is playing in his eighth provincial championship and he made it to the final in 2013 as the third for Sean Grassie, but he flew under the radar in the early going because he hasn’t been skipping for all that long.

“We just threw this team together actually,” said Chambers, who curls with his cousin Julien Leduc, Devon Wiebe and Stuart Shiells. “We put the team together, we’ve had instant chemistry, we won a couple of events early and we’re still rolling now, so it’s good.

“We’re just making the clutch shots at the right time right now. Everybody is pitching in, whether it’s a huge sweep by the front end or a big shot. Everybody’s playing really well.”

Sigurdson lost the opening game of the bonspiel 8-1 to Daniel Birchard on Wednesday before reeling off four straight B-side wins to qualify for the playoff round.

“I didn’t think much good was happening after the first one,” said Sigurdson, backed by Justin Reynolds, Dillon Bednarek and Mitch Einarson. “We only went about six ends, so felt pretty bad going into the second game but we’ve kind of gotten better every game since then. We didn’t really talk about too much. We just tried to be pretty relaxed about it and tried to win our next game.”

Also still alive in the playoff round are second seed Jason Gunnlaugson, third seed Braden Calvert, fourth seed Lott, sixth seed William Lyburn and seventh seed David Bohn.

Gunnlaugson and Calvert will meet Saturday morning for a spot in the championship round. The loser will still have another chance to qualify through the B-side.

“I could get used to this,” Calvert said after beating Bohn 8-0 in a playoff game Friday night. “We’re playing really solidly right now and trying to stay sharp.”

Calvert, a 23-year-old former world junior champion, has won all four of his games so far this year after losing both of his games and getting bounced early in last year’s championship.

Gunnlaugson beat Lyburn 8-2 Friday night and has also won all four of his games.

“All of our games, we’ve done a good job of just staying slightly ahead and playing in our comfort zone,” said Gunnlaugson, who is backed by Alex Forrest, Denni Neufeld and Connor Njegovan.

“It’s important to have good consistency in this event. It is a little bit weird because if you are winning your games it’s a slow-moving event. We had more than 24 hours off at one point. We’re used to playing two games a day so that’s a little bit challenging but we’ve been able to come back really re-focused for each game.”

Lott will play Sigurdson in a B-side elimination game Saturday morning, while Lyburn faces Bohn.

“This is the first time I’ve ever qualified through the A-side,” said Tanner Lott, 26, who is playing in his third Viterra Championship. “It’s quite an experience for us.”

The Lott team, which including Colton Lott, Kennedy Bird and Wade Ford, was formed at the end of last season, basically with the intention of keeping a foot in the curling door while the Lott brothers worked on trade apprenticeships.

“It was always a possibility that we’d be contenders because we are all strong players for sure,” Tanner said.”

“But I thought there would be more of a growing process. We just kind of clicked really fast and everything’s been really good.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.